Air travel is not the mystery it used to be, although there are many interesting things to still find out. Of course, anyone working in aviation may be familiar with some of these things, but perhaps there are still a few surprises in store.
10 There is no row 13
Certainly, in most of the world, you will not find a row 13 in the aircraft cabin. Thirteen is considered unlucky, so it is thought that passengers would not be so happy to sit there. As such, many aircraft manufacturers have removed it. In China, they don’t have a row 4 for the same reason, and you won’t find row 17 in Brazil.
9 Water is essential
Hydration is so important when flying. In just a three-hour flight, the body can lose 1.5 liters of water, so it’s a good idea to stay topped up.
8 flying is safe
Statistics prove that flying is safer than driving, and the most dangerous part of your journey is the drive to the airport.
Be more concerned about your drive to the airport. Photo: Air North
7 lavatory
You can never lock yourself in the lavatory. The cabin crew know that there is a hidden button they can press to immediately release the door in an emergency.
6 meal time
It is not an official rule, but many airlines do use this practice … the flight crew on your flight, will not eat the same meal and mostly not at the same time. This is just to be on the safe side, as if a meal was contaminated, at least only one pilot would be incapacitated at any time.
5 Tomato-juice
The humble tomato juice is the second most requested drink onboard by passengers, after water. Although it might not be so tasty on the ground, we lose a third of our taste buds in the air, so a tomato juice (or a bloody Mary) becomes very sweet and tasteful.
Who knew tomato juice could be so popular? Photo: Tui
4 ashtrays
Due to legalization and the aircraft minimum equipment list, a removable ashtray has to be fixed on or near the lavatory door. This is due to the fact that smoking used to be allowed on board the aircraft, and passengers could potentially throw a cigarette into the lavatory waste bin and cause a fire. Of course, now smoking is completely banned, but the rule is the same; if there is no ashtray, the aircraft will be grounded until a replacement is found.
3 turbulence
Light turbulence that we most encounter, the aircraft only moves a few feet. In moderate turbulence where the cabin crew have been seated, the aircraft moves between 10 and 20 feet, although it might feel like a lot more!
two On the wing
The left wing has a red light and the right wing a green light. Sometimes it can be hard for the pilots to see an aircraft completely clearly. So these lights for the pilots are helpful to see which way other aircraft are facing or which direction it is going.
1 number crunching
Did you know that at any given time, there are 9,700 aircraft and 1.2 million people in the friendly skies?
Any surprises for you here? Let us know in the comments.